WOW! That's Cold!

The world I live in now is not even close to the world I grew up in. When I was growing up you were considered technologically advanced if you had a solar powered calculator and a digital watch. Now, in literally the blink of an eye, you can be talking with someone on the other side of the world, and not only talking with them, you can see them, face-to-face via a computer or even a phone. We can know anything that's happening in the world in minutes simply by sitting down at our desks and looking at a website. Through sites like Facebook and Twitter, we know people's thoughts and feelings, even celebrities. We have adopted a whole new vocabulary with this technology run world: hashtag, Youtube, tweet, Skype, facetime, social media and going viral to name a few. It is the last two in the list that I want to talk about today. Ever since Facebook appeared on the scene 10 years ago, it has grown to something that has become a normal part of our everyday lives. It is the premier social media site. If you are on Facebook, and if you aren't, I would venture to say you are one of very few, you have reconnected with old friends, connected with new, and had the opportunity to share your thoughts and feelings with potentially 1000's of people in minutes. Talk about "six degrees of separation." With the start up of Youtube it became possible to share virtually anything with "the world" on video. I remember once being in absolute awe that at 2AM in the wee hours of a Saturday morning that I could go to my computer, log on to Youtube and pull up a video on how to finish a knitting project. Right there in the middle of the night, a complete stranger was teaching me how to finish my scarf. Youtube has been used for everything from make-up tutorials, to self-promotion in the entertainment industry to posting music videos. It's brought instant fame to the average Jill or Joe, and helped music groups like Pentatonix reach their millions of fans at the unbelievable cost of NOTHING! That's right. It's FREE to post on Youtube. It is free advertising. Now what enables the video I post today to be seen by millions tomorrow? It has to do with something called "going viral," meaning someone shares it, who shares it with someone else, who shares it with someone else, and so on and so on. You get the idea, it catches like a virus, and before you know it, the video has been seen by millions. Combine something going viral with Facebook's social connections, and you have an unbeatable combination!
In recent days this unbeatable combination has taken the form of something called "The Ice Bucket Challenge" People started making videos of themselves getting drenched by a bucket of ice water, but before being doused they are challenging friends to also take the challenge, and if not to donate to an ALS foundation. Some are asking people to do both, and then they get ice water dumped on them or they dump it on themselves. Sound silly? Maybe it is, but it has gone viral, and everybody is doing it from the advanced ALS patient who started it to celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Jack Black and Adam Levine to sports stars and medical teams to just plain folks like me. And at last report, donations have topped 10 million dollars. You read that right, 10 MILLION!!!! Some people have commented on Facebook on some of the videos posted asking what pouring ice water over your head has to do with raising money for ALS - the debilitating disease that attacks nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord? In fact, some of them are pretty negative. The act of the ice water dousing does nothing, no more than the act of running cures breast cancer or wearing a red ribbon on your lapel cures Aids. What it does do is raise awareness. As these infectious videos of people challenging friends to take the challenge spread, the world is learning about the disease and are obviously inspired to donate. $10 million is a pretty good measure of success! So to the naysayers, I say this. 1) Why do you care? 2) If you think it's silly, stop watching it! 3) It's not hurting anyone! In fact it's helping...A LOT!!! One of my mother's best friends was always the life of the party until ALS took her life away. That was over 40 years ago. Maybe in another 40 years or hopefully less the 10 million + dollars that's raised because of a silly little challenge will make this viral craze obsolete. We can only hope! If you'd like to see me get doused paste the following address in your browser, and donate if you're able!  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152610398580199&set=vb.618970198&type=2&theater

Smile Though Your Heart Is Aching

When I was in high school and hanging out with my theatre friends, we would entertain each other for hours quoting routines from a comedy album called "Reality, What a Concept." The comedian we were imitating was Robin Williams. He had a unique style of just spilling out every thought, and all of it was comic genius. I would often share how amazing it would be to see the lightning speed at which his brain was working. I first saw Robin Williams as an extra player on a revival of "Laugh-In" Shortly after that he appeared in an episode of one of my favorite shows called "Happy Days" Richie Cunningham is visited by an alien named Mork from the planet Ork. The character sparked a spin-off called "Mork and Mindy" I never missed it. He delivered lines so fast, and they were so funny, that I missed half of them for laughing so hard. Then along came a film called "The World According to Garp" This was quite a departure for Williams. It was not a comedy. He proved his acting chops, and role after role followed. Some comedies but just as many serious roles. In "Good Morning, Viet Nam" he found a vehicle to use both his comedic and dramatic talents, and it garnered him an Oscar nomination. He would receive 3 additional nominations for "Dead Poet's Society," "The Fisher King," and "Good Will Hunting." He won in 1998 for "Good Will Hunting" A whole new generation, including my own children, got to experience his comedy when he voiced The Genie in Disney's "Aladdin." I cannot imagine what the lead animator went through trying to bring his manic, improvisational style to life. Then came "Mrs. Doubtfire." Of all of his films except "Aladdin" this is the one I've seen the most. When I'm channel surfing and catch it on a channel, I will usually stop and watch it from whatever point it's at until the end. Yes, he's funny, but also extremely touching and insightful. I've seen him interviewed countless times, and I always have pity for the interviewer. They pretty much just have to sit back until Robin comes back from whatever rabbit hole he's jumped down. My favorite of all interviews I've ever seen was "Inside the Actor's Studio" He takes a pink scarf from an audience member and does a solid 4 and 1/2 minutes of hilarious improvisational comedy. The amount of talent is beyond anything I have ever seen and probably will ever see.
Robin Williams died today from an apparent suicide. He was 63 years old. The reports say he had been struggling with depression, and had entered re-hab recently for his drug addiction. He was always very honest and open about his drug problems early on. He was quoted as saying, "Cocaine is God's way of telling you you are making too much money." He knew the dangers and he knew the consequences, but life is not cut and dried. There are no easy answers to anything when depression is involved. This fabulously talented man who spent his life making other people laugh was struggling. My heart aches that such a bright light is gone from this world. O, captain, my captain, rest in peace.

And in the End....

We're all going to die. That's the plain and simple truth. No one lives forever, so death is no surprise. It is how and when we die that troubles us. I remember seeing a made-for-tv movie when I was 10 about a woman who was dying of cancer. I can't remember the entire movie, but I think it was probably the first time I had ever heard of cancer. My family has no history of cancer, so I had never dealt with a relative having the disease. I do remember thinking, even though I was only 10, if I ever get cancer, and they tell me there's nothing they can do, I'm not going to have chemo therapy because I want to live what little time I have left not being sick as a dog. Now, let me interject here. I am not saying that no one should have chemo therapy who has cancer. I know how much good it can do. I have seen it help my friends. In this particular film it was a matter of you have very little time. We can extend your life a little bit, but you'll be sick for the rest of your days kind of thing. I decided then that I didn't want THAT! 40 years later, at age 50. I still feel that way. At least I say I would make that decision, but, truth be told, I don't think any of us can make a decision like that until we hear those actual words, "There's nothing we can do." I have been catching episodes of a show called Chasing Life. It centers around a young woman in her 20's who has been diagnosed with Leukemia. As she deals with having cancer she meets a young man who has a brain tumor. He tells her that he has opted not to have surgery to try and remove the tumor because of the risks of going into a coma or living life as a vegetable. He wants to die with dignity and his mind in tact. That poses the question is it life we want or quality of life? Right now, without the threat of death hanging over my head, I would choose quality of life even if it was shorter. But....ask me again if living a few extra months, even in a weak and sick state,  would allow me to see my daughters get married or my first grandchild born, and I may have a different outlook all together. I found out today that someone I know has heard those words, and it made me think, and it pissed me off, and I wasn't going to give it the Mary Sunshine treatment and look at the bright side. Let's be honest. When someone tells you you are going to die. This awful thing you have is going to kill you, there is no bright side, and frankly it pisses me off more when people try to offer phrases like, "You've lived a full life," or "5 or 10 more years, that's pretty good!" I'm sorry! No it's not. It's SHIT! I know people mean well when they say these things, but sometimes it's just better to own what's wrong and face it head on, and know we don't always have to put on a brave front. It's okay to be mad as hell that you have cancer and it's going to rob you of your life. I mean, come on! You have cancer! I didn't tell my friend anything except that I was sorry, and I was here for him. And isn't that all we really want in life is someone to be there for us in good times and bad? It doesn't make the rough times easy, but it sure as hell makes them a lot less hard!

You're Not Funny! Get Off the Stage!

I have this friend. His name is David, and he is the most talented person I know. We met each other as freshmen in high school back in 1979. He, like me, was a theatre geek. Even as a 9th grader, he was a phenomenal actor! We met when we were both cast in "Godspell" in our freshmen year. In the next 4 years we would do 8 shows together. I've played his wife - Pippin, his ex-wife - Play It Again, Sam, his love interest - Little Mary Sunshine, his mother twice - Dark of the Moon and Butterflies Are Free and his victim - Doing a Good One for the Red Man. David is someone I always had chemistry with on stage. I remember I used to love doing improv with him. We knew exactly how to feed each other and play off one another. We had drama class together in our sophomore year, and we were given a situation to play out. Only we knew the situation, the audience (the class) just watched what we created. The situation was this. You are husband and wife. The wife has convinced the husband to kill his boss in order to take over the company and you are leaving the scene of the crime...GO! Every improv I had ever done before had always been silly or funny...not this one. I still remember it. It was like we were performing a scene written for us. It was really powerful! Recognize the plot? It's "Macbeth." We didn't know that when we were given the scenario, but we pretty much played it just the same. Of all the roles I played with David, my favorite had to be as Florence Baker, mother to the blind Don Baker in "Butterflies Are Free" It was the fall show of our senior year. If you don't know the play, Florence is pretty much of a bitch and insanely overprotective of her blind son who moves into his own apartment for the first time. Flo is the villain of the piece until the very end, and there is this incredibly touching, revealing scene where she explains to her son why she is the way she is, and we realize it is all out of love. This will sound corny, but every time I played that scene with David, it was like magic. The timing, the takes, the pace...perfect! We took that particular scene to competition and won 1st every round, and actually won fifth place as a team in the Forensics competition. The other teams there had at least 20 people or more competing. David and I were it for our team. He competed in Forensics in high school, and he went to Nationals every year! He is extremely adept at drama, and his comedic skills are superb. He is quick witted and sarcastic and so, so funny! Whenever we are together I spend most of my time laughing. He's also smart as a whip! He graduated from William and Mary, and shortly after moved to New York. He has been a New Yorker since then. At present, he is a published playwright, and has received numerous accolades - all well deserved. His most recent accomplishment? An original opera will be performed later this year at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for which he was the librettist. I am so proud to call him my friend! We see each other about once a year, twice if I'm lucky, and I look forward to those times, and I am always sad when they end. Why have I chosen now to write this tribute to my dear friend? On July 19th he turned 50, and I was getting ready to go into tech for 42nd Street, so this is the first free moment I've had to walk down memory lane and tell the world just how much I cherish our friendship. Happy birthday you sweet, wonderful man!